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thoughts on science, history, and teaching
John M. Lynch is an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett the Honors College at Arizona State University. He's also affiliated with ASU's Center for Biology & Society. When he's not an historian of anti-evolutionism, he's an evolutionary morphologist. Much to his surprise, in 2007 he was named the Arizona Professor of the Year. No doubt his students were surprised as well.
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January 29, 2006
Category: Anti-evolution • Politics
South Carolina is currently undergoing a dalliance with ID. WIS10, a TV station in Columbia, ran an interview with the SC Governor, Mark Sanford. Here is a choice portion wherein Sanford demonstrates that science classes were wasted on him:Q: What...
Posted by John Lynch at 10:43 PM • 7 Comments • 2 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-evolution • The Life Academic
I just don't get it. Over at Uncommon Descent, Dembski posts on a course in the philosophy of biology at the University of Bern (Switzerland) that includes a single lecture (of ten) that discusses ID, and commentators are acting like...
Posted by John Lynch at 5:38 PM • 5 Comments
Category: Anti-evolution
Once again, ID supporters are being a little economical with the truth. Over at Uncommon Descent, Dembski posts an op-ed by Stephen Meyer in the Daily Telegraph (28/1/06). Meyer sets the scene with: In 2004, the distinguished philosopher Antony Flew...
Posted by John Lynch at 5:16 PM • 1 Comments
Category: The Life Academic
Last week was the first real week of teaching in that it was the first week when we had content-driven classes. So Tuesday saw me walking into class for a three-hour seminar on Galileo (to be repeated again on Thursday)....
Posted by John Lynch at 3:43 PM • 4 Comments
Category: Anti-evolution
Yet another poll, or rather this time a nascent one being run by the boyos at TelicThoughts who mailed myself and more than a few other science bloggers to see what our answer to the question "On which points are...
Posted by John Lynch at 2:18 PM • 5 Comments
Category: The Life Academic
Over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet has a nice post on the riff she gave to students this semester on plagiarism. I have to say, I too take plagiarism personally in that I cant imagine the students think...
Posted by John Lynch at 12:14 AM • 4 Comments
January 28, 2006
Category: Anti-evolution
Over at DailyKOS, Wes Elsberry (of NCSE) gets interviewed. Wes graciously gives props to Ed Brayton, Troy Britain, Reed Cartwright, Mike Dunford, Pim van Meurs, and myself (among many many others) for our help on the Dover case, but frankly...
Posted by John Lynch at 8:25 PM • 0 Comments
Category: Anti-evolution
If only to contextualize the Harris Poll I mention below, it is worth pointing out that science literacy in this country is fairly appaling. Witness the bi-annual NSF Science & Engineering Indicators (2004), which found that forty percent believe that...
Posted by John Lynch at 5:36 PM • 3 Comments
Category: Anti-evolution
Over at Uncommon Descent, both Dembski and Dave Springer are highlighting this Harris poll from July of last year (you got to hand it to the ID supporters, they keep up with the literature). Dembski merely makes a number of...
Posted by John Lynch at 2:25 PM • 0 Comments
January 27, 2006
Do you agree that "[o]ne of the great strengths of the Endangered Species Act is its foundation in sound scientific principles and its reliance on the best available science"? As this letter notes, "[u]nfortunately, recent legislative proposals would critically weaken...
Posted by John Lynch at 2:55 PM • 2 Comments
Category: Anti-evolution
Not for the easily offended - so PZ will enjoy it ! - is the BEAST Most Loathsome People in America 2005. And who do we see at #46? Why, none other than Bruce Chapman of the DI!46. Bruce Chapman...
Posted by John Lynch at 11:17 AM • 0 Comments
Category:
On January 28th 1986, the shuttle Challenger broke up 73 seconds into its tenth mission. Here James Oberg demolishes seven myths about the Challenger tragedy - including the idea that millions of people saw the "explosion" (and the reason for...
Posted by John Lynch at 10:32 AM • 1 Comments
January 26, 2006
Category: Anti-evolution
My experience of Europe in the 1980's was that creationism was a particularly American phenomenon - and frankly, I still think it is. However, the following poll from the UK gives one pause for thought: Over 2000 participants were asked...
Posted by John Lynch at 11:15 AM • 1 Comments • 2 TrackBacks
January 23, 2006
Category: Anti-evolution
Philip Skell - whom I've dealt with before - is once again shilling for the Discovery Institute. Witness:"I am writing -- as a member of the National Academy of Sciences -- to voice my strong support for the idea that...
Posted by John Lynch at 5:47 PM • 0 Comments
January 22, 2006
Category: Bits and Pieces
Over at Pharyngula PZ has a nice post on sexual selection in Swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri). By a strange coincidence, I bought a couple of male neon swordtails yesterday for my tank and was reminded why the staff in many pet...
Posted by John Lynch at 9:06 PM • 2 Comments
January 21, 2006
Category: Bits and Pieces
Scienceblogs got a mention on BoingBoing - which if you don't know, is well worth checking out daily - and I'm seeing a spike in visits from that site. So, welcome one and all!...
Posted by John Lynch at 2:14 PM • 0 Comments
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If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $19.95. If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
(Non-U.S. subscribers, click here.)
